


Impressions of Moonlight

by momentinsubtext



Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-12
Updated: 2008-05-12
Packaged: 2018-02-15 08:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2221905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momentinsubtext/pseuds/momentinsubtext
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[post-<i>Exit Wounds</i>] They aren't having an affair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Impressions of Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from my Teaspoon account.

They aren't walking together.  
  
He's about ten paces ahead of her; she's walking almost in the footprints. The moon shines down on them, tangles in her hair. She doesn't take her eyes off of him.  
  
As they near the end of their journey, he slows down, allows her to pass him. She does, because they aren't walking together.  
  
She doesn't look back, but she knows he's watching her. Her movement, the play of moonlight against her skin. She stops, waits.  
  
He steps into her, his body pressed against her back. His arms go around her, he presses his face against the back of her head. She rests her hands on top of his; she doesn't entwine them, this isn't romantic, not really.  
  
Not at all.  
  
Tears slide down her cheeks, but she doesn't move to wipe them away. He lets her cry for the both of them, holding her as tightly as he can without hurting her. She wouldn't mind if he did.  
  
He doesn't love her, she knows. He won't. Not until she's gone, like they are. She knows he never held them like this, but maybe he wishes he had, just once.  
  
He needs them all, every one of them; gone, now. She mourns for Tosh and Owen, but he mourns for everyone else: all the innocents killed, all the people he's loved and lost over the years, the people he never loved but wished he had. She presses back against him, not quite enough.  
  
She isn't having an affair, not really; they aren't doing anything wrong. He isn't really here with her, anyway. She's just his consolation prize, he's still waiting someone to take him away.  
  
As the moonlight fades, he lets her go. She still hasn't looked at him, and she walks on, eyes staring straight ahead. If he wanted her to see this, he'd do it in daylight.  
  
He watches her go, then retreats to the Hub. She's too young for the sunlight to burn, anyway.


End file.
